Residents frustrated by the lack of action the village board has taken on an application to erect a 61,000 square foot, three-story, 82-unit senior assisted living facility on the current site of Cathedral House urged trustees to finally act either for or against the proposal.

The application, which Sunrise Senior Living originally filed back in April 2003, ultimately seeks to amend the village zoning code to allow for the facility's construction, operation and maintenance on at least three acres in the R-20 District.

A Greenridge Avenue resident who works at the Cathedral, noted, "I am in contact with a lot of older individuals and I know at least five or six who have had to move out of Garden City, where they've lived for almost their whole lives. They have gone to other assisted living facilities where they are not familiar with the surroundings. I just feel we really need one here."

Thea Welch of Washington Avenue, a 30-year resident of the village, first came to Garden City with her husband, a former English teacher at St. Paul's. In fact, the Welchs once lived in the cottages that the Cathedral Nursery School is temporarily calling home these days. Welch realizes that with assisted living there are many considerations but pointed out that Sunrise appears willing to make the building's façade look the way the village wants it to.

A public information meeting was held in June 2003 and Sunrise formally submitted revised plans in May 2004, scaling back their original four-story proposal to three. Jeff Forchelli, Sunrise Senior Living's attorney, has come before the board in the past, urging trustees to entertain his client's application.

Dianne Moody of Willow Street, a life-long village resident, urged the board to do the same. She believes the one thing the Village of Garden City lacks is a senior assisted living facility. "I also know many people who have had to leave the village and their ties here at a very vulnerable age. It costs them a $25 cab ride to come back to anything they are familiar with (i.e. doctor, house of worship, hairdresser, etc.)," she said.

Moody continued, adding, "Allowing Sunrise to take over the Cathedral House site would bring us general tax revenue, which of course would be beneficial to every single resident of this village. Secondly, it would have no impact whatsoever on our school district unlike other options that might be available. Further, our public services in the village would be impacted either not at all or far less than they would be by some other facility being there."

The most important point Moody wanted to drive home was her desire for the board to come to consensus on this. "You are holding up the Cathedral from going on with its congregational life. We need to know what's going to happen to this building so we can make plans and move forward with ours. I ask you to please not hold this up anymore. It's been two-and-a-half years and Sunrise, I know, has provided you with the information that you have asked for. I think it's time to make a decision either for or against. It's time to bring this to a close."

Village Administrator Robert Schoelle, Jr. noted that Sunrise has in fact provided the village with the information it requested months back, particularly, a more detailed plan. Mayor Gerard Lundquist said the full board of trustees would discuss the information amongst one another as well as with Village Counsel Gary Fishberg.

Building Superintendent Mike Filippon once again stated the application is at the board's discretion; trustees are under no constraint to make a decision on whether they find merit in the application or not.

If the board opts to permit this use by special exception, a public hearing would have to be held. "Should they grant the special exception permit, then it would be subject to site plan approval and Architectural Design Review Board approval," Filippon recapped. "It would also have to be reviewed by our Planning Commission and Architectural Design Review Board and ultimately be sent back to the trustees for final site plan approval."

Further, depending on the proposed facility's proximity to county roads, the proposal would also be subject to Nassau County Planning Commission review. To the dismay of many residents, the whole process could take approximately two years to complete.

Charles Janoff, chancellor of the Cathedral of the Incarnation and counsel for the Cathedral Nursery School, sent a letter to Schoelle last month noting that the Cathedral of the Incarnation, as a part of the approval of the Sunrise project, is willing to enter into an agreement with Garden City to enable continued public access to the private road connecting Cathedral and Rockaway Avenues on the same basis as currently exists.

Forty-three year resident Blanche Muller, formerly of Washington Avenue and now Pell Terrace, has seen a lot of change over the years. "Change is never easy and never satisfactory to everybody. How many of you have seen the day by day, year by year delay in making decisions on many things here in the village? You cannot make a decision over night but I urge you all not to just put this on a backburner and a backburner and a backburner," Muller said.

As a child Muller came here from Brooklyn to Cathedral Day and marveled at this "jewel" in the village. "I always thought of the Cathedral as a wonderful place," Muller said. "What a town, what a heritage Stewart left us. But we keep muddying it up and we let this deteriorate and that deteriorate. No one will cry more when Cathedral House becomes no longer viable and has to come down. There is a very good plan for something good in its place. Give it due thought and give it your full commitment to moving it along."

For approximately two years, the Cathedral Nursery School has been an independent educational corporation and is no longer affiliated with the Cathedral of the Incarnation. When the school existed on the Cathedral property, it was helping to subsidize operational costs of the building. There is, however, no longer a financial connection. The estimated construction cost of the senior assisted living facility is approximately $12 million. Nine Sunrise Senior Living facilities currently exist on Long Island with 92.2 percent occupancy in all of Nassau County.